InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Grey ❯ A Shadow's Reflection ( One-Shot )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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There it was again. That infernal noise.

The rhythmic sound was as soft as a whisper, but to the girl's sensitive ears the breath of noise seemed to reverberate throughout the entire chamber. Her fathomless black eyes flickered aimlessly as a mild paranoia threatened to overtake her calm resolve.

The quivering figure curled into an even tighter ball inside the small alcove burrowed within the stone, and refused to acknowledge the damning sound that seemed to accelerate the more she concentrated on it.

A lone flicker of waning sunlight invaded the darkness and lit upon her slowly. She cringed away from the lure of its warmth, the momentary flash illuminating her pale skin. Empty eyes fluttered shut in concentration as she ignored her name floating ominously upon the air.

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Go away! What did it mean?

Her tattered kimono hung limply over her shoulders as she recalled the moment her blind obedience had faltered.

A frenzied Hakudoushi had given in to his bloodlust again. The massacre of the nearby village had been swift and without mercy. Though she'd have no way to recognize the later if it had not. The demon gripped with an insanity that she could never understand had wielded his blade as though it were harmless. As though with every swing her was not ending someone's existence.

Carelessly heaving the thing to and fro he had barely spared her a glance when the weapon had snagged the fabric of her kimono and practically sliced it clean off her shoulders.

She had not noticed it then, dodging the reckless demon's swings had been her main priority. But later along the banks of the river she'd attempted to right her disheveled clothing and had taken a long look at her distorted reflection in the blood soaked waters.

A lifetime of staring at the reflections of others ironically she'd never once took in her own.

Her widening gaze had stared for several disbelieving seconds before yanking the clothing down to confirm what she had somehow known long ago.

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The pale skin of her unblemished back greeted her. Taunted her with its unwavering truth. Delicate fingers trailed over the cool glass clutched to her heaving chest as she struggled to feel something. Anything! Her time for answers was drawing short as her name reached her ears a second time.

Peering into the pane proved futile as the many faces of souls taken flicker across its surface. Lost forever for the sheer pleasure of the taking.

Wait!

She willed the barrage of pictures to stop as the image she wanted floated over the shiny surface. A small girl with a smile that could pierce the deepest dark stared back at her. Taking in the pale glossy hair tucked neatly behind petite youkai ears she could not help but stare as her gaze met the mischievous eyes of the trapped girl.

Familiar deep dark orbs stared back at her, but instead of the lifeless gaze she expected, these eyes glowed with promise, as if they held a secret that only she knew.

The pieces fell together of their own volition. Her scarless back, her inability to understand Hakudoushi's passion and Kagura's defiance, the perverse satisfaction Naraku seemed to get when looking at her, and the thundering noise that tortured her even now.

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"Kanna!"

The priceless mirror slipped from her numb fingertips as Kagura landed in front of her, her growing irritation apparent. "Didn't you hear me calling you?" she demanded, magenta eyes flashing from the obvious inconvenience.

Kanna ignored the question instead focusing on the emotions the wind witch effortlessly exuded, and attempted to answer back in what she was sure would be an accurate imitation.

"I did not."

The words fell empty from her lips, the characteristic monotone a carbon copy of the last words she had spoken. And the words before that. . .

Kagura lifted the discarded mirror to her own gaze, inspecting it critically, then shoved it at the younger youkai in exasperation. "Naraku wants you."

Naraku wants you. The words echoed mockingly through her subconscious. Naraku wants me? Naraku has me. The only part that mattered anyway.

Kagura spun on her heel, magnificent kimono flaring out behind her. Kanna followed docilely along in her footsteps. Silently berating the beautiful youkai ahead of her. Kagura thought that she had been denied her freedom because Naraku possessed his incarnation's hearts. She knew nothing of imprisonment!

The thumping continued insistent in her ears with each footfall, and Kanna pulled her flawless prize against herself possessively.

Only Naraku could be so twisted as to suck away a girl's soul and allow her to carry it with her none the wiser, she thought, unable to summon even a flicker of desire for vengeance.

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Lifeless eyes watched as Kagura took to the air, and she continued on silently. Endlessly. Allowing her shuffling footsteps to match the tempo of her traitorous beating heart.